Aggie: "Duh... A tie is kinda like gradyewatin' from A&M... You'd druther not talk about it..."

Whenever one team was having a good season (or had just stomped on another team), West usually portrayed them a lot larger and more dangerous-looking--the Longhorn and the Razorback, in particular, looked downright scary when they had a good season. On the other hand, if a team was having a lousy season, or if they'd been skunked badly in a game, they tended to shrink in stature or to look like they'd been on the losing end of an especially savagebeat-down. While West's cartoons were popular with Tech fans, they were much less appreciated by other teams. The Aggies, in particular, took great offense at the way their mascot was portrayed. West, of course, took their angry letters as a sign of a job well-done.

Moss: "Dirk is gittin' the Aggies a new Big Chief tablet an' Crayolas so they can write some more letters..."

Even outside of cartooning, West had a great sense of humor and a quick mind, which led to a love of practical jokes. Johnny Gamble, a childhood friend of West, tells that he was once at one of Tech's games against A&M. Gamble was carrying a load of snacks and drinks from the concession stand back to his seat through a crowd of Aggie fans when he heard someone call out, "Hey, Dirk West!" Gamble turned to see West himself, grinning wickedly, sitting in the stands above him. The Aggies immediately assumed that Gamble was West and started pelting him with food.

Baylor Bear: "Oh wow! The way things are goin' is enuff to confuse a one car funeral!"

West entered politics in the 1970s, serving several years on Lubbock's Parks and Recreation Board and city council and being elected mayor in 1978. By most accounts, he was a good mayor, but he disliked politics so much that he refused to run for a second term. After getting out of the government biz, he returned full-time to cartooning and his advertising agency, which he continued clear up to his death of a sudden heart attack in 1996.

Boo Bird: "The three shortest books in the world are Aggie Table Manners, Ethics in Recruiting at SMU an' Offensive Plays at Texas Tech..."

Research: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, July 27, 1996Some of West's cartoons can be viewed at http://www.redraiders.com/gallery/dirk_west/1.shtml